BANKING
China eases rate regime
China’s central bank yesterday unveiled a new regime to allow banks to set a prime lending rate, in what it said was a further step towards liberalization. Nine commercial banks will submit the lending rate they charge their best quality clients each day to set the prime rate, the central bank said in a statement. A weighted average will be calculated based on the submissions by banks and announced daily by China’s interbank market, it said. The average was set at 5.71 percent yesterday, according to the official Web site for interbank rates.
SOUTH KOREA
Economy grew 3.3%
The economy expanded at the fastest clip in nearly two years in the latest quarter as companies increased machinery purchases and consumers spent more. The Bank of Korea yesterday said that Asia’s fourth-largest economy grew 3.3 percent in the third quarter over a year earlier, the highest rate in seven quarters, showing that a recovery is gaining traction. From the previous three months, the economy expanded 1.1 percent, the same level as the second quarter.
BANKING
US Fed wants more assets
The US Federal Reserve on Thursday proposed that big banks keep enough cash, government bonds and other high-quality assets on hand to survive during a severe downturn on par with the 2008 financial crisis. The largest banks — those with more than US$250 billion in assets — would be required to hold enough cash and securities to fund their operations for 30 days during a time of market stress. Smaller banks — those with more than US$50 billion and less than US$250 billion — would have to keep enough to cover 21 days.
MANUFACTURING
DuPont to spin off unit
DuPont Co says it will spin off its Performance Chemicals unit to shareholders. The company has said previously that it was looking at options for the unit. Performance Chemicals is one of DuPont’s largest businesses by revenue, but it has been struggling because of falling prices for titanium dioxide, a key industrial pigment. It says it expects the spinoff to its shareholders to happen in about a year and a half. The company also says the spinoff will give it more reliable earnings growth.
INTERNET
Amazon Q3 loss narrows
Amazon.com says that its fiscal third-quarter loss narrowed as revenue grew 24 percent. The Seattle-based online retailer on Thursday also said that it expects growth in its fourth-quarter revenue, indicating confidence as it enters the key holiday shopping season. Amazon posted a loss of US$41 million, or US$0.09 per share, for the quarter that ended last month. That is compared with a loss of US$274 million, or US$0.60 per share, in the same quarter last year. The prior year includes a one-time US$169 million loss related to its stake in online deals site LivingSocial. Revenue came to US$17.09 billion from US$13.81 billion.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford boost profit outlook
Ford Motor Co boosted its full-year global profit outlook on Thursday as its European picture brightened and stronger overseas demand sparked better-than-expected third-quarter results. The No. 2 US automaker now expects this year’s pretax profit to top last year’s US$8 billion and losses in Europe to be less than they were last year. Chief financial officer Bob Shanks said Ford sees the European unit being profitable in 2015.
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
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